For Us

Kati Goldstein ’13, an English major in the Creative Writing/Poetry track, has been awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Arts Award. Goldstein will pursue an MFA in poetry at Columbia College in Chicago starting in the fall.

The Graduate Arts Award provides college seniors and recent graduates with up to $50,000 per year for up to three years, allowing them to pursue a graduate or professional degree in the visual arts, performing arts, or creative writing. To be eligible, candidates must be nominated by the faculty representative at their undergraduate institution.

Goldstein, of Cutler Bay, Fla., says her time at CC “could not have been a better experience. I had the opportunity to take blocks with amazing visiting writers such as Diane Seuss and Jim Moore, and also to develop meaningful relationships with my peers and professors within the program.” Goldstein especially cites English Professor Jane Hilberry’s guidance and mentorship, saying Hilberry had been invaluable in assisting in her development as a writer. Hilberry “has been generous with her support since I first showed interest in the Creative Writing program and played an integral part in my growth every step of the way,” Goldstein said.

Hilberry, along with Diane Seuss, “helped foster the unmatched community and camaraderie of this past year’s senior poetry writing workshop. The closeness and trust we developed as a group allowed me to take risks in my work that I never otherwise would have and has taught me how to be a better peer and critic,” Goldstein said. The senior poetry workshop is the subject of a video made by one of the members, and in it Goldstein says she has loved writing her entire life, penning her first poem at age 6.